July Resolution List:
My new resolution for this month is adding a Bible Study and a prayer journal to my list. I am re-doing one of my First Place 4 Health bible studies and I am going to start a prayer journal (again). I pray, but I’ve fallen out of the habit of starting my day with prayer and I want to get that habit started back again. The truth is, it’s been hard for me to talk to God because I’m angry about what Tom’s going through. I am not sure how to work through that, but I’m going to try.
I will continue with my other resolutions:

• Recording food and blood sugar/Drinking water
• Walking 25 minutes a day/getting 8,000-10,000 steps a day
• De-cluttering/paperwork (when needed)/creating classes/daily housecleaning tasks
• Write in my blog each day/post in Facebook groups each day
• Fruits/veggies: continue with my goal of a fruit at breakfast, a vegetable at lunch, and a vegetable and fruit in the evening
• Gretchen Rubin-continue reading “Better than Before” (a book about habit change)
• Daily devotional: I’ve started a devotional book by Lysa TerKeurst called “Made to Crave: 60 days to craving God, not food”. 

​Wildflowers
I love flowers of all kinds. But I’ve always had a special affinity for wildflowers. My favorite since I was a child is Indian Blankets. I’m not sure why, but I’ve just always thought they were beautiful. Maybe the way the bright red stood out in the pastures and fields. On my walks, I’ve seen some lovely yellow wildflowers blooming in a ditch just outside of town. One morning when I walked, that ditch had been mowed and many of the flowers were gone. But in one spot, they were already peeking back up. That’s what I love about wildflowers. They grow where they are. They’re strong and they come back-no matter what knocks them down. I want to be as strong and beautiful as a wildflower. I want to come back no matter what knocks me down. I think the human spirit can be like a wildflower, if we allow it to be. Let’s work on being wildflowers; bloom where we are and burst back through no matter what knocks us down. 

​This weekend is the first time since the pandemic shut down everything in March that I’m teaching a class. I’m teaching an all day Saturday and Sunday class so that means I’ll be working all day today. After this, I’m not going to do anymore long distance trips for training due to Tom’s health. I’m going to concentrate on building webinar content and setting up training closer to home that I can drive to and back in one day.
 
What are you doing today? 

I’m going to confess something here that I probably should not, lol. But hey, I’m all about the honesty. House cleaning has never been one of my strong points. I mean, I don’t live in filth or anything, but dusting especially was just a really hated task. I’ve learned that when you do it regularly, it’s much easier to do it lol. Creating a routine has really helped me with keeping things cleaner around here. Of course, getting rid of massive amounts of clutter hasn’t hurt either. I followed FlyLady for years and just never really got the hang of her system. I’m so excited to have created something that is working well for me. My house is by no means perfect, but it’s better (much like me this year lol)
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Do you follow a routine for cleaning your house? If so, tell us about it in the comments. 

I'm headed out later today to teach my last traveling class for a while. I've decided to stick to doing mostly webinars and maybe training at places I can go there and back in one day. Tom isn't able to travel with me all the time anymore and I know as things progress, I'm going to feel less and less comfortable leaving him at home. At this point, he can still take care of himself, but I do a lot for him because he is just so weak and tired. 

Anyway, I'm feeling sad because I'm going to miss the traveling and doing so much training because it just makes me so happy. I had already missed it a lot the last few months not being able to do it because of the virus. But being home with Tom and spending time with him makes me just as happy and I want to value the time we have left together. I can't really look forward to going back to traveling because that would mean that...well you know. 

Thanks for listening to my pity party today. I know I'm doing the right thing and I'm happy that I'm doing it, but I also want to acknowledge and feel the sadness. 

I have been very disheartened by all the ugliness I've seen out in the world lately; especially on social media. Everyone judging everyone else for what they're doing (or not doing).  Don't get me wrong-I know I'm not perfect and I know I"m not always nice. (My own kids have some stories about that lol). I am working on myself though. I try to remember that we just don't know what's going on in other people's lives and we should strive to always be kind. 

I think what bothers me most is all the judgmental stuff I see posted on Facebook especially regarding politics. I mean, I don't care if you're a Democrat, a Republican, or a Martian. Just be NICE about it and be respectful of other people's views. It's okay that we don't all agree on something; we can still be respectful of other people. In other words, follow the Golden Rule: Treat others as you wish to be treated. JUST BE NICE!

This week's update:

Recording food and blood sugar readings and drinking at least 80 oz of water a day: did this all seven days

Walk 25 minutes a day/8000-10,000 steps a day: Did the walking 25 minutes every day and the 8000-10,000 steps six of the seven days (every day except Sunday, my rest day)

De-clutter/paperwork/work on classes: did this six of the seven days

Write in blog/post in Facebook groups: did this all seven days

Fruits and veggies: met my goal all seven days!

Gretchen Rubin books/course: Finished the course I was taking and have been reading the book; did this six of the seven days.

Devotional: all seven days

​House: Did this five of the seven days (I take the weekend off) 

You guys know I"m a huge fan of Gretchen Rubin. One of the things she talks about in her book The Happiness Project, is "acting how you want to feel". So if you want to feel loving, act loving. If you want to feel energetic, act energetic. It's interesting how well that works. I have been working hard at keeping this in the forefront of my mind this year. 

Have you ever tried this? How did it work for you? 

I made Sunday my rest day for several things, including doing any grading, etc. I know I need that day, but I realized yesterday that evenings and Sunday's are really hard for me because I have too much time to think. During the weekdays, I keep pretty busy working on grading and other projects but evenings and weekends just give me too much time to over think everything. I am not sure what the solution is, I just know it's a problem I'm having right now. I know part of it also comes from the fact that Tom spends most of his time in bed and so when I'm not busy, I just get really lonely. He has only felt like coming out once in the evening to watch TV with me over the last few weeks. So I guess I need to brainstorm some solutions for how to deal with that time so maybe I cope with it a little better. I know I need down time but I don't need overthinking time lol. 

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Especially to my husband Tom who has been an incredible father to our children. Thank you!